rthibeau Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I finished a couple hammers, one of which was a right hand diagonal pein, about 2 3/4lb, and the thought came to me that I'm lefthanded and would likely never use one. How many blacksmiths out there are left handed and what particular or special tools have you made to fit left handed? I know I have altered a few hammers just so they work left handed better than before. What all have you right brained people done? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Larson Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I build my Iron Kiss hammers to have dies that can be placed differently for righties and southpaws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 I mounted the vise on the table so it could be used more easily left handed. I want to build a left handed hack saw. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larry H Posted January 15, 2012 Share Posted January 15, 2012 anyone need a left handed hammer ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rthibeau Posted January 16, 2012 Author Share Posted January 16, 2012 Left hand hack saw.... http://76.162.20.145/Images/hacksaw02.JPG You have to get the twists correct to make it left or right handed Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsmith Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 i am one of those cursed with confused handedness, sometimes i will pick up a hammer with my right hand , sometimes with my left, funny thing is i am left hand dominant and cant hit worth spit with my right hand, but i will still start smithing with my right untill i realize what i am doing... :0) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ptree Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I was born left handed and went to Catholic School when the still switched folks, so I write, poorly, right handed. I was pretty much ambi-dextrous until I broke my left wrist, and was then shot in the left hand right after the cast came off. Did some tendon damage and my fine motor control is lessened quite a lot in that hand. But when my right hand was hurt I worked left handed including a day at the anvil. Now my right hand suffers from joint damage in the index and middle fingers and I grip primarily with the ring and little finger. I have noticed some progression of the joint damage from a virus I caught when working in Mexico, and my ring finger on the right is stiffening. May have to return to left handed, which will make my right handed diagonal peens into straight peens and Me have to buy some left handed ones from Nathan Robertson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ironsmith Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 ptree, best of luck with your troubles on your hands, i couldn't imagine getting shot in a hand you just got out of a cast! mind telling us the story how it happened? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hayden H Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I started out as a lefty, up until recently I could write decently with my left hand, but I found cursive written right-handed with a left handed slant to be much quicker than left-handed danelian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rich Hale Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Odd thing if you think about it..I am right handed, So I use that hand for the hammer. And the tongs in the off hand or left. But when forging for the most part the hammer hand simpy has to provide force in one spot on the anvil, The tongs however have to keep the work under the hammer and combined for a lot of the work that should be over the sweet spot of the anvil. Thinking this through a bit. The hammer hand is then the lesser of the two and the tong or work piece hand is the brains of the outfit. At this point in my life I do not think I will try and switch hands... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank Turley Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Odd thing if you think about it..I am right handed, So I use that hand for the hammer. And the tongs in the off hand or left. But when forging for the most part the hammer hand simpy has to provide force in one spot on the anvil, The tongs however have to keep the work under the hammer and combined for a lot of the work that should be over the sweet spot of the anvil. Thinking this through a bit. The hammer hand is then the lesser of the two and the tong or work piece hand is the brains of the outfit. At this point in my life I do not think I will try and switch hands... I think that the ol' tool dealer from Delaware, Bill Gichner, said words to this effect, "The holdin' hand does as much as the hittin' hand." New thought. There is a slight difference in the feel of many a pair of tongs, right and left handed. If you forge flat jawed tongs as most books show, you make three shoulders giving the work a quarter turn counter-clockwise, sequentially before each shoulder. When assembled and the reins are aligned as they often are, by moving them together until they make an elongated "X" where your left hand holds them. The bottom rein will be a little to the right of the top rein, which feels better for the left hand fingers. If you make the tongs by turning the material clockwise, you'll wind up with a pair that feels a little better when held in the right hand. This is not a big deal, but is often noticable and perhaps annoying, to a left handed person who's holding tongs made for a right hander and vice versa. This difference, though slight, can be overcome by forging a short "crank" in each rein so they align one above the other. An example would be an Off Center brand tong where the small crank is directly below the rivet boss. This method is also used on nail nippers [end cutters] and farriers' hoof nippers. Nippers are aligned so that the reins are parallel, one above the other. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Actually a diagonal pien hammer is not left or right handed. It is drawing (making longer) or spreading. I made one years ago with a diagonal pien on both ends. Looking at the hammer head on both are on the same angle. Held with one head striking it is either drawing or spreading. Flip it over and it is the opposite. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dan P. Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Odd thing if you think about it..I am right handed, So I use that hand for the hammer. And the tongs in the off hand or left. But when forging for the most part the hammer hand simpy has to provide force in one spot on the anvil, The tongs however have to keep the work under the hammer and combined for a lot of the work that should be over the sweet spot of the anvil. Thinking this through a bit. The hammer hand is then the lesser of the two and the tong or work piece hand is the brains of the outfit. At this point in my life I do not think I will try and switch hands... People often have this thought about playing guitar or similar instruments. The dominant hand strums away, while the less handy hand is assigned the more difficult task of fretting the strings. It is counter intuative, but actually it is the dominant hand's ability to work "on its own" without your brain supervising it that makes it suitable for the repetitive jobs; finger picking, hammer hitting, etc., while your mind supervises the other hand more directly. I am left handed, but with the exception of turning the anvil around, I have not yet really had to change much. Well, I avoid tin-snips, but that is something I would probably avoid anyway! -Dan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
781 Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 My saymak hammer is set up left handed. Hand hammer I use a square head hoffi style hammer and use the face corners as the pien also for fullering/drawing so the pien would not matter to me. I would be better off with a rounding hammer pien enven though the hammers I use have a cross pien. I keep saying I am going to make a Brian Brazeal style rounding hammer but never do. Have a euro style anvil with a pein on each end so anvil positioning doesnt matter much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 Actually a diagonal pien hammer is not left or right handed. It is drawing (making longer) or spreading. I made one years ago with a diagonal pien on both ends. Looking at the hammer head on both are on the same angle. Held with one head striking it is either drawing or spreading. Flip it over and it is the opposite. Like this ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glenn Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Actually a diagonal pien hammer is not left or right handed. It is drawing (making longer) or spreading. In my opinion diagonal peens are left and right handed as if you have a left handed diagonal peen in your left you can SEE THE WORK where the hammer hits. If you have a right handed diagonal peen in your left hand you CAN NOT SEE THE WORK where the hammer hits, as it is blocked by the peen. I do agree on the function of the hammer for drawing or spreading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WayneCoeArtistBlacksmith Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Like this ? Yup, just like that. I used mine a lot for several years, then started using the edge of the face for the straight pien and now rarely use the diagonal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
knots Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Yup, just like that. I used mine a lot for several years, then started using the edge of the face for the straight pien and now rarely use the diagonal. And this double peen hammer is ambidexterous. That is, you will always have a peen either perpendicular or parrallel ( approximately) to the anvil edge/long axis when used right or left handed. One handy thing about a diagonal peen hammer is drawing over the base of the anvil horn. The diagonal peen gives you two parallel convex forming surfaces working simultaneously when working on the horn. The diagonal peen makes this easy to keep the peen face parrallel to the horn. Since I mainly use the peen for drawing, my main hammers have blunt peens as shown . Normally I just use my straight peen for that forging in that position but the diagonal peen might be more comfortable in use for some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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